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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



COPYRIGHT. 1918. 

By 
ROY THOMAS SMITH 
1202 North Third Street 
KANSAS CITY. KANSAS 



SACRED 
BLACK 



THE 

AND DUTY 

CITIZENS 

ETHIOPIAN RACE 



BY 



ROY THOMAS SMITH 




Price 50 Cents 






FEB 14 1918 



©CI.A481709 



CONTENTS. 

Chapter I. 
Being Black Page 13 

Chapter II. 
Being an American Citizen ** 24 

Chapter III. 
Patience ** 30 

Chapter IV. 

What It Means to Be a 

^^Nigger'' " 35 

Chapter V. 

Why We Should Accept 
Christianity '' 39 



TO THE READER. 

This book is published with the 
hope of arousing our race to the sa- 
cred duty we owe our country and 
race. 

American Black men are called to 
a new existence. We are advancing 
under a new alliance and union. 
We are establishing our race under 
a new faith, and that faith is Chris- 
tianity. "^ 

The old-time humorous personali- 
ty of slavery times is slowly but sure- 
ly giving place to the tendency of 
the higher and grander aspirations 
of our race. 

The great spirit of the Christian 
world calls us to a new existence. 
Through the help of God, may this 
book strengthen our aims. 



OF BLACK AMERICAN CITIZENS. 



I. 

BEING BLACK. 

Self-preservation is the first law of 
Nature and all mankind. It is a 
known fact, from ages past, that 
preservation of the human body is 
the first step of evolution known to 
mankind. The human mind is so 
very sensitive that the moral cor- 
ruption of an individual's mind may 
be very detrimental to his common 
welfare and uplift. It is therefore a 
fact that if we desire to develop the 
mind of our race, we should give 
attention to the preservation of the 
bodies of Black men. We should en- 
courage right living in every respect. 

Our race of people are the heritage 
of the native African. We belong to 
the Ethiopian race by a grand inher- 
itance. It should be a great encour- 

13 



SACRED HONOR AND DUTY 

agement to know that we belong to 
one of the largest root races on earth 
and the first of our people to es- 
tablish Christian civilization in our 
midst. The ways and actions of 
Christian civilization are new to us. 
The part that Black men are to do 
must be plainly understood by every 
one of us. 

We are to plainly understand that 
our advancement depends on our 
foresight in looking into the future 
of our race. Our development is 
hindered by looking backward 
with discouragement at the predica- 
ment into which our people have 
strayed through misunderstanding 
the ways of Christian civilization. 
We must remember that we belong 
to a great race. The honor in kee'p- 
ing the name of Black men in high 
esteem is a duty. It is to your wel- 
fare to recognize the benefit of unity. 

14 



OF BLACK AMERICAN CITIZENS. 

The union of nine million Black 
Americans will give Black men from 
all parts of the earth a new life and 
spirit of existence. It will awaken 
the entire race to the possibilities 
of Christian civilization. It will give 
us the right to take an active part in 
the Christian world. 

The welfare of American people 
depends on our endurance and good 
understanding in keeping the name 
of Black men in good faith. Our 
strength as Americans depends on 
our good understanding in being real 
meii. Our women are to know that 
their part is to preserve our rights as 
free Black Americans. Young Black 
men and women must realize the 
fact that our race belongs to a great 
natural orjgianization, which must be 
preserved in a true American - like 
spirit, if we intend to take ah active 
pairt in the affairs of our country. 

15 



SACRED HONOR AND DUTY 

The days of slavery and oppression 
must be given their time to die. 
Those days of darkness must be trod- 
den down by the fact that they are 
a hindrance to our future welfare. 
Those days are very good for slaves 
to grieve and ponder over, but for 
free Black men who serve only one 
God it is more of a hindrance to our 
future welfare. A boy in his days 
of childhood hates to be scolded or 
whipped. The lad when he grows 
into young manhood realizes that the 
boyish joys and pleasures are past — 
the duty of acting in the spirit of his 
future welfare confronts him. The 
joys and lashes of our childhood days 
are relics that every man holds dear. 
The joys of the past are transformed 
into the duty of being a man. The 
growth of a boy into manhood is the 
point of evolution that our race has 
reached to-day. The days of slav- 

16. 



OF BLACK AMERICAN CITIZENS. 



ery are past. Our future is in the 
making. 

The men or a race of people who 
ponder over their past grievances do 
not get very far and their good works 
never get anywhere. It is my be- 
lief that God judges men by their 
good works and not by their griev- 
ances and by-words. The future 
generations of American Black men 
are asking you one question: Are 
you doing your part as a Black man? 
If not, why not take up the burden? 
Your reason is our strength, your 
foresight is our inheritance. Being a 
man is our strength. It is not a part 
to be played, it is a service and duty. 
The time to look at our situation as 
square-shouldered Black men and 
true Americans is facing you directly 
as a man. America is our land ; our 
organization as a race is our strength 

in the country of our adoption. 

17 



SACRED HONOR AND DUTY 

We men have a mission in Ameri- 
ca. Our part in this great Republic 
is to be of good courage and firm 
faith towards ourselves and country- 
men. The time for us to stand cour- 
ageously in our Christian faith is 
facing us directly as men. 

We are growing on America's soil, 
I might say as a great field of wheat. 
We are producing young Black men 
with fine intellect. Our boys are 
growing as the wheat that sprouts 
from America's highly cultivated 
fields. The farmer harvests his 
wheat and he reaps the results. I 
wish to impress you to reap the re- 
sults of our youth's might by consid- 
ering your ways. 

I have written these few pages, 
and you might still ask, what is our 
part? Our part is, first, to drop all 
superstitious ideas and to be of 
good courage. We are not to live 

18 



OF BLACK AMERICAN CITIZENS. 

only for ourselves, but we should 
live for the uplift of our race and 
Nation. Why should I say to be of 
good courage? Our assistance to 
the betterment of your life depends 
on your good faith and strength in 
being a Black man. The welfare of 
millions of our grand women — God 
has made none any grander^ — de- 
pends on our united spirit and cour- 
age as men. Our women are not to 
be sported, but we are to encourage 
them to blossom, even as wild roses, 
into full womanhood. The best way 
to encourage our women is by being 
an upright, typical Black man; the 
best way to make them realize that 
we are their sole dependence is by 
claiming our rights as Black Ameri- 
cans. Their destiny depends upon 
your courage and strength. It is 
our part to protect them as the bee 
does the honey in the hive. They 

19 



SACRED HONOR AND DUTY 

are ours because of our strength; 
they are yours because it is your 
part to claim them. They are to in- 
crease because you through reason 
have made the way. The right of 
our women to blossom into true wo- 
manhood is to be claimed by your 
courageous faith as Black men. 
Our women have undergone an 
enormous ordeal in the past. It is 
up to you to give them their right to 
show their womanhood. 

It is shown through the last cen- 
sus that there are nine million or 
more Black men in America. The 
encouragement due our men is to be 
established by keeping the name of 
our race in good faith. Discourage- 
ment thrives by looking down and 
back at bygone days. The future of 
our race is not to be hindered by a 
few tender-hearted men that ponder 
over the struggles of bygone years. 

20 



OF BLACK AMERICAN CITIZENS. 

The civilization that we now live 
has reached the summit of modern 
times. We are living under the bes • 
organized unit of livelihood that ex- 
ists any place on earth. The ma- 
terial resources of our country are 
so well developed that we share the 
products with the entire world. It 
is for us to grasp the advantages. 
Black Americans, it is your part to 
establish yourselves in Christian 
civilization. The future of your race 
is to be determined by your courage 
in keeping the name of the Ethiopian 
race undaunted'. 

I am not striving to impress you 
with any new idea. I am seeking to 
let you know that our common wel- 
fare is your intelligent reason in con- 
sidering our people as a part of a 
natural organized race. I am as- 
piring to let you know that the life 
and welfare of your race is to be 

21 



SACRED HONOR AND DUTY 

Strengthened by your manhood. 
The name of Black men must be 
held aloft as the stars in the skies. 

OLD BLACK JOE. 

"Gone are the days when my heart 
was young and gay ; 

Gone are my friends from the cotton- 
fields away; 

Gone from the earth to a better land 

I know — 
I hear their gentle voices calling, 

*01d Black Joe.' 

**Why do I weep when my heart 
should feel no pain? 

Why do I sigh that my friends come 
not again? 

Grieving for forms now departed 

long ago — 
I hear their gentle voices calling, 

*01d Black Joe.' 

22 



OF BLACK AMERICAN CITIZENS. 

**Where are the hearts once so happy 

and so free? 
The children so dear that I held 

upon my knee? 
Gone to the shore where my soul has 

longed to go — 
I hear their gentle voices calling, 

^Old Black Joe.' 

**I 'm coming, I 'm coming, for my 

head is bending low ; 
I hear those gentle voices calling, 

*01d Black Joe.' " 



23 



SACRED HONOR AND DUTY 

II. 

BEING AN AMERICAN CITIZEN. 

It is a great example of courage 
that we have shown as American cit- 
izens. We have proven that we are 
in America to stay. We are citizens 
because we have claimed our rights 
as part of the American people. We 
realize that the vast resources of the 
American people afford us many ad- 
vantages. We share the common 
welfare of the organized, skillful 
American mind. 

The cities that our country stretch- 
es forth to us are the best that mod- 
ern civilization can produce. Our 
stuctural buildings are the specimens 
of a modern Rome. Our sky-scrap- 
ing buildings are huge statues of a 
Nation whose spirit desires to live 
in a high place on God's earth. The 

industrial factories of our Nation are 

24 



OF BLACK AMERICAN CITIZENS 

to be compared with those of any 
highly civilized nation. Their out- 
put helps to supply the world. The 
highways are the products of skillful 
minds. They are ours because we 
have accepted and claimed their 
ownership. Our railroads are as 
well constructed as you might find 
anywhere on earth. They are ours 
because the American mind pro- 
duces them. 

The temperature of our country is 
equalized into seasons that we can 
find no better any place on earth. 
We have great natural parks. We 
also have summer and winter re- 
sorts with a long stretch of seacoast. 

Our country covers such a vast 
territory that enormous sections are 
yet to be cultivated. I might speak 
of Alaska and the island possessions 
of our country. They are to be cul- 
tivated under the grip of our civili- 

25 



SACRED HONOR AND DUTY 

zation. We are to strengthen the 
grand American union by our phys- 
ical and mental strength as Black 
Americans. America stretches forth 
her hands for us to cast our strength 
with hers. America has purchased 
her freedom through the rights of 
blood and strife. It is our duty to 
protect those sacred rights by estab- 
lishing ourselves with a stronger 
faith for the universal uplift and pro- 
tection of our country. The freedom 
that America offers Black Americans 
is the right to be strong and cour- 
ageous in serving our race and coun- 
try. The right to serve in an up- 
right way is the liberty that America 
gives our race. 

American Black men have gone to 
war when America has made war. 
We have proven that our blood is al- 
lied to the country of our freedom. 
Our minds may be carried back to 

26 



OF BLACK AMERICAN CITIZENS. 

the Revolutionary War. Black men 
showed their courage in those days 
of strife. They fought for the rights 
that America might declare its own 
future destiny. Those men, dear 
friend, served America by their 
strength and blood. They fought for 
the future welfare of their race and 
Nation. They shedded their blood, 
and those Americans found it a glori- 
ous duty. The Civil War with its 
strife found Black Americans doing 
their part. We honor the names of 
those brave Black men who fell in 
the hope that the union of our coun- 
try should not perish. Those men 
sacrificed their lives for our right to 
form our future in the affairs of our 
country. Are the sacrifices of those 
men to be forgotten? God grant the 
day will never come that we will for- 
get the sacrifice of those heroes. 
Black Americans, it is your duty to 

27 



SACRED HONOR AND DUTY 

preserve those sacred rights of citi- 
zenship. It is your duty to so serve 
your race and country that America 
will not be ashamed of our co-opera- 
tion. The respect that the Ameri- 
can people owe our race is to be 
gained by the courageous faith that 
we have in honoring the Union. 
The life of our Nation depends on 
our faith ahd courage in co-operat- 
ing with the American people. We 
must remember that we are not or- 
ganizing a nation, but we are forming 
a part of a great union of the greatest 
Republic in the world. Black Amer- 
ican citizens, it is your duty to trust 
in God and to take your part in this 
Christian civilization. It is our duty 
to make America a great covenant, 
where the Ethiopian race greets the 
Caucasian race. God could make a 
spectacle no grander — under one 
flag|and^one faith. 

28 



OF BLACK AMERICAN CITIZENS. 

"Lead, kindly Light, amid the en- 
circling gloom, lead thou me on; 

The ni^ht is dark', and I am far from 
home; lead thou me on; 

Keep thou my feet; I do not ask to 
see 

The distant scene; one step enough 
for me. 

"I was not ever thus, nor prayed 
that thou shouldst lead me on ; 

I loved to choose and see my path; 
but now lead thou me on ! 

I loved the garish day, and, spite of 
fears. 

Pride ruled my will. Remember not 
past years ! 

"So long thy power has blessed me, 
sure it still will lead me on 

O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and tor- 
rent, till the night is gone. 

And with the morn those angel faces 
smile 

Which I have loved long since, and 
lost awhile!" 

29 



SACRED HONOR AND DUTY 

III. 
PATIENCE. 
Our patience to endure and over- 
come the struggles of our every-day 
life is our national strength. Black 
Americans who display their courage 
in civil life by their patience, are es- 
tablishing the foundation for the fu- 
ture generations of our race. The 
struggles of our daily lives must be 
fought in a gentle, courageous man- 
ner. We must remember that we 
are expected to encourage the na- 
tional spirit of America by our cour- 
ageous faith and actions. Black 
Americans, it is your duty to remem- 
ber that each one of us are humble 
leaders of a great race in a great civ- 
ilization. Patience in our every- 
day life is the part that each of us 
should strive to develop. Consist- 
ent toiling with untiring patience 
will prove to be a strong factor in 

30 



OF BLACK AMERICAN CITIZENS. 

uniting our race. We must remem- 
ber that we are the foundation of our 
race in America and Christian civili- 
zation. The strength of our people 
is to be established by your patience 
in doing your part in their uplift. 

It is true that each one of us do 
not possess the wealth of educational 
training, but we can do our part by 
being of good courage. The great 
mass of American Black men are to 
be strengthened by your patience 
and good faith. It is your duty to 
set an example that will live in their 
midst. 

The hardest battles are not always 
fought on the battle-field; they are 
sometimes fought in humble homes, 
around peaceful firesides, by citizens 
who labor and contest for the rights 
of civilization. These heroes are the 
pioneers of all great people. The 
humble citizen who labors for his 

31 



SACRED HONOR AND DUTY 



daily bread is the physical strength of 
our national organization. The man 
who conies from his daily work to a 
humble, peaceful home is enjoying 
the greatest wealth that civiHzed 
minds can afford. 

The preservation of our home life 
is the preservation of our nation and 
race. Our sons and daughters may 
possess the great wealth of educa- 
tional training, but if they do not 
realize the importance of home life, 
their mental strength and training 
will not do much in strengthening 
our national organization. 

The patience to labor and to wait 
is a strong factor in the development 
of ail progressive races of people. 
The enduring stamina of laboring 
and waiting is the superiority that 
the civiUzed man has over the un- 
civiHzed being. The civilized man 
works for the future welfare of his 

32 



OF BLACK AMERICAN CITIZENS. 



family, race, and country. The hope 
of the uncivilized man is to reap the 
present results of his labor. Civil- 
ized people are kept in union by 
those men who trust in God in exe- 
cuting their strength. Those pion- 
eers are the foundation of all civil- 
ized nations and races. 

Black American, it is your duty to 
be upright in faith and courage. 
The existence and welfare of your 
race must be safely guarded by your 
courageous will in a true Christian, 
American-like spirit. 

The freedom of America lies in 
your effort to take your humble place 
in the national union. The liberty 
to cast our strength in a true Ameri- 
can spirit with the American Com- 
mic/hwealth is to be gained by our 
good faith and patience in dealing 
with our race and country. 

Some men content themselves 

33 



SACRED HONOR AND DUTY 

with their own livelihood, but God 
grant me the strength to contest for 
my race and country. The sacred 
alliance that a man owes his race and 
country is one that every man should 
bow to and contest for its perfection. 
These few lines by Edward Ever- 
ett Hale should be remembered in 
our every-day life : 

"To look up, and not down; 
To look forward, and not back; 
To look out, and not in; and 
To lend a hand." 



34 



OF BLACK AMERICAN CITIZENS. 

IV. 

WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A 

*^NIGGER.'' 

I shall first apologize to you, dear 
reader, for bringing such classifica- 
tion into a book that touches our na- 
tional life so dearly. It is a debt 
that I owe your good intention and 
sacred thoughts of your family that I 
write of such outrageous, unbefitting 
classification of a name, the truth of 
which disgraces our good intentions 
as Americans. 

The word "nigger" means a per- 
son of bad character; a man that 
possesses the lowest of human char- 
acter is to be classified as a "nigger" ; 
a man that possesses the least of 
moral courage is called a "nigger." 

I have a great respect for the be- 
liefs of individuals, but I cannot tol- 
erate the superstitious idea of any 
man acting a "nigger." 

35 



SACRED HONOR AND DUTY 

Black Americans, it is apparent 
that a few of the superstitious minds 
of our race beUeve that the Ethi- 
opian race is the doomed and ac- 
cursed race of the earth. Words 
cannot express my depressed at- 
titude since we have accepted such a 
religious faith as Christianity. It is 
revolting against our high ideals to 
classify ourselves only in the name 
of Black Americans. The great and 
Godly morale of Christianity, which 
all Black America'hs owe the Ethi- 
opian race, is crushed and demor- 
alized when we classify ourselves 
as anything else excepting Black 
Americans. 

Black Americans, it is an outrage 
against our race to classify each other 
with such a vulgar term. The half 
foreign and part American-like spirit 
that Negroism has developed must 
be destroyed. We are Americans 

36 



OF BLACK AMERICAN CITIZENS. 



and we must stand in the sacred 
courage of our convictions and faith. 

We have accepted the enlightened 
life and character that God has so 
graciously given. 

Black Americans, I believe in no 
nobler duty than trusting our Maker. 

These few words from our great 
Emancipator and President should 
be remembered : 

"Even though much provoked, let 
us do nothing tlhrough passion and 
ill temper." 



37 



SACRED HONOR AND DUTY 



THE REASON WHY WE vSHOULD 
ACCEPT CHRISTIANITY AND 
TAKE OUR PLACE IN AMERI- 
CA'S GRAND CIVILIZATION. 



38 



OF BLACK AMERICAN CITIZENS. 



V. 



WHY WE SHOULD ACCEPT 
CHRISTIANITY. 

Why should I encourage you, my 
dear friend, to accept Christianity? 
Why should I deliberately ask you to 
accept a religion that our race has 
apparently accepted? 

Religion is a great factor in the 
progress of all nations and races. 
The strength of a people is not de- 
temined altogether by their phys- 
ical abilities as individuals; but the 
strength of a race is determined by 
the faith or religion they worship 
under. 

The Indian race might have been 
the ruling race of our country to-day 
if the native Indian race could have 
accepted one religion and one union. 

39 



SACRED HONOR AND DUTY 



The different tribes of American In- 
dians were separated in customs and 
habits. Their chief occupation con- 
sisted in warring against each other. 
The adjacent tribe usually was the 
closest enemy. The union of one 
faith and religion was never realized 
in the days of the North American 
Indian. These primitive Americans 
put their trust solely in the strength 
and bravery of the fighting young 
buck. The marvelous power of the 
union of faith of both body and mind 
was never realized. There was no 
one consolidated faith amongst them. 
These facts I wish to bring to 
your mind so that you may realize 
that the North American Indian is 
rapidly going out of existence by in- 
termarriage with other and stronger 
races. Christianity has never im- 
pressed seriously with good under- 
standing the power it has to save 

40 



OF BLACK AMERICAN CITIZENS. 

them as a race in America. The 
faith that the Indian has failed to ac- 
cept must not be our stumbling-block 
in establishing our race in America. 
The fast-vanishing race should be 
an example of a people who have 
lived surrounded by a great faith, 
but which they have never accepted 
seriously as the salvation of their 
race. Their race has suffered, and 
we, my dear friend, should gain by 
our foresight in dealing with the fu- 
ture of our race. 

A house of worship must be es- 
tablished where Black men come 
and Black men worship. The super- 
stitious customs and ways of our 
now-existing Church must be blotted 
out for the clean, moral principles of 
a true Christian Church. It might 
be asked what are the superstitious 
customs that I have reference to? 
It has been an early belief of our 

41 



SACRED HONOR AND DUTY 

race that our people are the true de- 
scendants of the BibHcal character 
Ham. The curses that the simple, 
easy-going mind of the Black man of 
the past found in the Old Testament 
of degradation and damnation, he 
spared no pains in superstitiously 
confessing when he laid the foun- 
dation of the now-existing Christian 
Church in our race. 

Is the Godly life, character, and 
grand salvation of our race to be 
sacrificed on the altar to the simple, 
superstitious mind of the Black man 
of old? He thought his color and 
racial characteristics were a damna- 
tion to him. It would have been a 
great knowledge to him to know that 
when he brought those superstitious 
ideas in the doors of a Christian 
Church he destroyed the great mor- 
al and religious principle through 
which the salvation of his race is 

42 



OF BLACK AMERICAN CITIZENS. 

planned. It might have assisted him 
to know that the Christian world 
looked upon him as having a super- 
stitious faith. 

Christian Black men, it is your 
duty to accept a clean faith, and not 
the superstitious beliefs and customs 
of the Black man of old. I believe it 
is a sacred duty to cast out those su- 
perstitious versions. These ideas are 
conflicting to the hopes and faith of 
all true believers in Christianity. 
Christian Black men, it is your duty 
to break those superstitious ties that 
the Black man of old has ignorantly 
united together in the midst of our 
Church. Christian Black men, stand 
up in faith and save your race. 
Black Americans, it is your duty to 
save the honor of your race in Amer- 
ica by accepting Christianity, in re- 
volting against the superstitious cus- 
toms of our race, and in rallying to 

43 



SACRED HONOR AND DUTY 

the high principles of Christianity. 
Black Americans, it is your duty to 
accept Christianity as the true faith. 
I believe Christianity is pure and 
broad enough for our race to worship 
under in whatsoever land they may 
be. It is our duty to accept Chris- 
tianity not as a White man's faith, 
but the perfect union God gave all 
men. 

The faith in the hope of redemp- 
tion through our Lord will unite the 
strength of body and mind of our 
race. Christianity will give every 
Black man a new hope and a bright 
spirit in dealing with himself, the 
race, and humanity. The great hope 
that God has so graciously given us 
will stand every Black man strong in 
his own strength of mind and body. 
The great alliance that every Black 
American owes his fellow-man will 
be locked with a key that no one but 

44 



OF BLACK AMERICAN CITIZENS. 

God will hold the secret. The 
grand union that all of us owe to 
our families, our race, and country 
will be conceived by our determina- 
tion and by our faith. 

We, as Americans, should accept 
Christianity because it will in a moral 
way unite the Ethiopian and Cau- 
casian races under one faith and one 
hope. The Ethiopian race needs the 
moral assistance of the united mind 
and good faith of each and every 
Caucasian on earth. It is of no 
doubt that the Caucasian race needs 
the moral strength of body and mind 
of every Black man on earth. Amer- 
ican Black men, it is for us to bring 
this great union to a reality. Europe 
and our own America offer to us 
an open door. African Black men 
need a hope and a new faith. The 
primitive mind of the native African 
must be brought to a world enlight- 

45 



SACRED HONOR AND DUTY 

enment. Christianity gives every 
Black man a bright light on the fu- 
ture ; it is for us to grasp the oppor- 
tunity. I — because I am a Chris- 
tian — believe we should take our 
place in the Christian world to help 
to do our part in the Godly uniting 
of the world under one faith. 

Christian Black men, you are to 
bear the cross for the salvation of 
your race in America. The welfare 
of nine million Americans rests sole- 
ly in the grace of God and your faith- 
fulness as true Christian worship- 
ers to preserve the race in the one 
true and Godly union. 

The sixty years of our freedom in 
America have been threescore years 
of hard times. We have progressed 
grandly as individuals, but we have 
not awakened to the fact that our 
progress is weakened by the prac- 
tice of Negroism. We have not 

46 



OF BLACK AMERICAN CITIZENS. 

awakened to the fact that God has 
given to Black men a mission in 
America. 

Americaiis, it is our duty, in due 
honor of the Ethiopian race, to take 
our place in the national history of 
America under one faith, one disci- 
pline, and one union. The alliance 
that we owe God and Christian civ- 
ilization through the one and indis- 
putable faith, must be respected and 
honored by our determined faith. 

The best way to gain respect in 
our Republic is by respecting the 
faith of our Nation and by standing 
firm in the faith of our acceptance. 
Christianity, in the voice of the ma- 
jority, has been accepted; and it is 
our duty to bear the Cross in the 
light of humble, peaceful. Christian 
Americans, with due honor to the 
race of our inheritance. 

The alliance that we through faith 

47 



SACRED HONOR AND DUTY 

have accepted with the Christian 
world must not be looked upon as a 
huge white elephant. Black men, it 
is for us to establish ourselves in 
America with a stronger faith and 
with more courage to our own liveli- 
hood. Negroism must be abolished. 
The intolerance of the system of in- 
termarriage and the Church or no 
other body contesting for the welfare 
of the race and principles of Chris- 
tianity must be stopped. Negroism 
must go. Black Americans, it is 
your duty to realize the heathenism 
in the practice of Negroism in your 
race. Black Americans, it is your 
duty to set a fire that will destroy the 
practice of Negroism from coast to 
coast. The practice of Negroism 
means suicide to our race in Ameri- 
ca. The estabhshing of Christianity 
means a new life and hope to our 
coming generations. Black Ameri- 

48 



OF BLACK AMERICAN CITIZENS. 



cans, it is to your welfare to grasp 
the situation and to do your part. 

It might be asked, what is Negro- 
ism? Negroism is the misunderstood, 
false, and superstitious hope that 
the simple, superstitious minds of 
some of our people have developed. 
The hope that God would come to 
our race through the practice of Ne- 
groism must be stopped. The false, 
superstitious hope of Negroism must 
be abolished for the great hope of 
Christianity^the Godly union of the 
world. 

An African chieftain once said that 
you may crush the spirit of Black 
men, but it will soon come to the top 
again. It is for us to prove our old- 
time ability of zeal and determina- 
tion of which the African chiehain so 
grandly spoke. 

The grand courage of determin- 
ing stamina to sacrifice for the wel- 

49 



SACRED HONOR AND DUTY 

fare of your race and humanity is 
the grandest example of real man- 
hood that God has instilled into the 
heart of any man. 

I have read of priceless paintings 
of art, statues of immortal beings, 
and temples of astonishing beauty 
of design, but the sacrifice that any 
man takes to heart, however small, 
is in itself a magnificent principle — 
grander than all the arts which gen- 
erations have produced. We may 
produce poets, sculptors, and artistic 
painters, but the greatest artist is 
the one who has learned to sacri- 
fice for the welfare of his race and 
humanity. The great designers of 
art have astonished our minds with 
the different designs of art, but the 
heroic example of sacrifice is the 
Godliest principle of the whole hu- 
man race when men sacrifice for its 
uplift and welfare. We in our daily 

50 



OF BLACK AMERICAN CITIZENS. 



lives can make some sacrifice for the 
welfare of our race and country. 
The smallest sacrifice sometimes 
bears the greatest example of cour- 
age and fortitude. The principle 
multiplies itself a thousandfold. 

The doctrine of Sacrificing our 
own selfish ideas for the perpetual 
life of our race and Nation is a prin- 
ciple that no Black man should feign 
to accept. The environment pro- 
duced in our every-day speech, lives 
again in the hearts and souls of 
those with whom we converse. The 
self-sacrificing of things we might 
have spoken or done is the producing 
of a greater will-power for ourselves. 
The spirit of possessing a clean, 
straightforward faith in our daily 
action is the might that any man 
should be proud to possess. Every 
man is proud of skillful deeds of 
manly strength, but the man who is 

51 



SACRED HONOR AND DUTY 

the possessor of a clean, enduring, 
self-sacrificing faith possesses the 
mightiest strength of all. The 
world smiles a thousand times to a 
man who is capable of showing a 
clean faith in enduring and succeed- 
ing. The whole world becomes a 
dismal area of dreadful striving be- 
ings to the man who fails to reflect 
his being on God's earth with a 
clean, upright faith. 

Christianity, through the Grace of 
our Lord, gives you and your race the 
greatest principle and mori^le of 
racial integrity and self-esteem that 
no Black man who claims a part of 
the Ethiopian race should feign from 
accepting. The Ethiopian race in 
America is either a dead race de- 
bauched of all courage or a grand 
race united in the Christian world, 
with a new life and spirit. Ameri- 
cans, it is for you to trust in your 

52 



OF BLACK AMERICAN CITIZENS 

might in the courageous, spirit of 
true Christian people, and to prove 
to the entire Ethiopian race that 
Christianity is a good faith and hope 
for the entire world by establishing 
your courageous faith in America. 

Our manhood and womanhood de- 
mand that you claim the life of the 
huge white elephant that supersti- 
tion and Negroism have planted be- 
tween your race and Christianity. 
Can we afford to continue the prac- 
tice of Negroism in our churches 
and amongst our people? Can we 
be cowards in talking our place in 
the Christian world? Can we afford 
to completely melt our race through 
the practice of Negroism with the 
different races in America? Black 
nien are instilled with a higher and 
greater spirit. The minds of nine 
million or more Black men answer 
with one harmonious reflection, and 

53 



SACRED HONOR AND DUTY 

that answer is, "No!" The entire 
Ethiopian race insists on your trust- 
ing in God and taking your part in 
the Christian world. Your race is 
strong enough to enhven the world 
with a new spirit. Are you cour- 
ageous enough to deal a death blow 

to Negroism? I will answer. Rally 
to your race! Rally to your coun- 
try! Make the death-cry of Negro- 
ism ring from every house-top, and 
establish Christianity as the true 
hope in our race ! 

Black Americans, it is your part 
to rally the spirit of your race with 
a new impulse. The heroic John 
Brown of the days of slavery did not 
fear to take your part. The big 
heart of this grand hero did not fear 
the task of striving for your freedom. 
Our great Emancipator, Abraham 
Lincoln, never shirked his duty 

54 



OF BLACK AMERICAN CITIZENS. 

when he declared your freedom to 
the world. 

Down with Negroism for the sake 

of our race and God! Up with the 

true light of Christianity ! May God 

bless our efforts that we make those 

words of the American Yankee in 

the days of slavery and oppression a 

reality : 



55 



SACRED HONOR AND DUTY 



JOHN BROWN'S BODY. 



"John Brown's body lies a-moulder- 

ing in the grave, 
John Brown's body lies a-moulder- 

ing in the grave, 
John Brown's body lies a-moulder- 

ing in the grave. 

His soul goes marching on ! 

**The stars of heaven are looking 

kindly down. 
The stars of heaven are looking 

kindly down. 
The stars of heaven are looking 

kindly down 

On the grave of old John Brown. 



56 



OF BLACK AMERICAN CITIZENS. 



"John Brown's knkpsabk is strapped 

upon his back, 
John Brown's knapsack is strapped 

upon his back, 
John Brown's knapsack is strapped 

upon his back. 

His soul is marching on ! 

CHORUS. 

"Glory, glory, hallelujah! 
Glory, glory, hallelujah! 
Glory, glory, hallelujah! 
His soul is marching on!" 



57 



SACRED HONOR AND DUTY 

BLACK AMERICAN CITIZENS, 
the Ethiopian Race under the Stars 
and Stripes calls you to surrender 
the bold and superstitious character 
to the submissive Grace and Sanc- 
tified Blood of our Lord and Savior 
Jesus Christ, as humble, peaceful. 
Godfearing men. 

We submit to the high aims and 
strength of the Gentile spirit of the 
Caucasian race in the Spirit of God; 
to the grand welfare of the Ameri- 
can and Ethiopian races. 

God grant us the Grace to bow 
and worship to the Father of all 
Mankind, the Savior of all Creation. 

May the perfect Union that God 
has planned be sounded from land 
to land, from shore to shore. God 

58 



OF BLACK AMERICAN CITIZENS. 

bless our courage and determination. 
We trust in God, in the Grace of 
our Lord, for the welfare and free- 
dom of the world; to the Godly 
Union of all humanity; in the Godly 
salvation of our souls born in the 
faith of our Lord, the Anointed One. 

THE END. 




59 



